Our Featured Book is Fragile by Lisa Unger

Best-selling author Lisa Unger discusses her writing process and reveals why Fragile, a book unlike any other she has written, took her over twenty years to write.

Set in The Hollows, a secluded town about 100 miles outside of New York City, Lisa Unger's latest novel, Fragile, is a book about the fragile bonds that connect people to each other and to their community. 

Despite their mostly happy marriage, when their son Ricky’s girlfriend vanishes, Maggie and Jones Cooper find themselves at odds Maggie is positive Ricky has nothing to do with Charlene’s disappearance, while Jones isn’t as sure. With Charlene gone, the memory of another young girl who went missing some twenty years ago is haunting the town.  That story didn’t have a happy ending, and almost everyone has an unrevealed reason to keep the horror of it firmly in the past.

As Jones and the police turn their focus on Ricky, Maggie must find out the truth about what happened all those years ago.  In order to save her son and the young woman whose life hangs in the balance, she’ll test the bonds of her community-and find out just how fragile they can be.

CommitmenteNow.com spoke to Lisa Unger about her latest best seller.

CommitmentNow.com:  You have said Fragile is a book you have been trying to write, in one way or another, for twenty years.  What did you mean by that?

Lisa Unger:  When I was growing up in suburban New Jersey, there was a horrible tragedy.  I girl I knew was abducted and murdered.  She had missed her school bus, and called her mom who told her to walk home – something she had done many times before.  In the distance of less than a mile she had disappeared.  I held this story and carried it with me, but it took me twenty years (and eight novels) to be able to tell that story.

CommitmentNow.com:  In Fragile, Maggie learns how fragile the bond of both community and family can be.  When you first began writing this book did you intend to use this as theme?   

Lisa:  A lot of my process is unconscious; I work without an outline.  My books start with a character or voice.  The inspiration can be a picture, a conversation or even a line of poetry.  Something will click, and I can hear a voice which develops into a character and then into a book.

In the case of Fragile, Maggie was the first character in my mind.  The book starts with her thinking of her teenage son and grieving the little boy that he once was.  About a quarter of the way through Fragile, I realized what it was about – that I was writing about something from my past.

I didn’t intend to use the fragility of the bonds of community or family as a theme in this book; it just evolved.

CommitmentNow.com:  You have a four and a half year old daughter.  How has motherhood affected your writing?

Lisa:  Motherhood has made me a better writer – and a better person.  It has given me a tremendous well of empathy and patience, and a better understanding of the human condition.
I was pregnant with my daughter while writing Sliver of Truth.  I finished it three weeks after she was born!  During that time I felt as if I had tapped into an enormous well of creativity.
In my novel Black Out, the main character is torn between two parts of herself, and I think that came from me trying to achieve a balance between being a mom and being a writer.  In Die For You, the character Linda is an artist and she balances her artistic life with parenting.  It was while writing that book that I found my own mommy-writer balance. 

Being a mom has also helped me manage time better.  I get up at 5:00 am and start writing, and stop to wake my daughter and get her ready for school.  In the few hours she is at preschool, I am very focused.  I want to make sure that when she comes home from school, I am able to focus my attention on her.

CommitmentNow.com:  In Fragile you reveal the dark secrets of a seemingly bucolic suburb.  Do you think all towns or cities have a dark side? 

Lisa:  A lot of my books deal with situations that have an idyllic surface with depths of darkness underneath.  Unlike places like New York City where there can be an open hostility, I think a lot of small towns have a surface of politeness and courtesy  - with a dark underside.  That is fascinating me.  I have a ferocious curiosity about human behavior, and when I sense that people are not what they are projecting, I find myself wanting to ask, Who are you really?  In extreme circumstances people tend to reveal themselves.  I like to write about those circumstances and revelations – the private self of a person that no one else can see.

CommitmentNow.com:  There are many characters in Fragile whose stories all tie in to Charlene’s disappearance.  Each of these characters offers a unique perspective.  Was it difficult to keep track of these characters and their respective points of view? 

Lisa:  There are two parts to writing a novel.  The first is the craft of writing – stringing coherent sentences together.  And the second is the more mystical part of writing – when I hear my characters’ voices and the story comes to me.  Each of the characters was real to me so it was easy to hear his/her voice.

CommitmentNow.com:  Some of your other novels, such as Die For You and Beautiful Lies are mysteries.  And while Fragile does focus on the disappearance of a teenage girl, it is more about the relationships within a community than a who-done-it.  How did this novel evolve from conception to finished product?

Lisa:  It’s funny, but when I was writing it, I didn’t think that Fragile was different from my other books.  It wasn’t until my editor, my agent and my husband (all of whom read my works in progress) commented on it, that I realized what they meant.  With each book I write, I find myself going deeper and deeper into the characters.  I have a dark imagination, which allows me to find dark scenarios and explore them.  In the case of Fragile, I was really exploring the inter-connectedness of the characters  and how their secrets were tied together. 

CommitmentNow.com:  You had a career in publicity, which you left to pursue your dream of becoming a full-time author.  What advice do you have a women who are working on novels while still maintaining their day jobs? 

Lisa:  Writing takes a lot of hard work. 

I was a closet writer for years; I started my first novel at age 19 and finished it at 29.  When I was 27, I looked at my life and realized I was in the wrong relationship, I didn’t love my job, and I needed to get serious about my writing.  I knew I had to make some changes. I didn’t want to look back at my life with regret.   To me, the risk of being a spectacular failure was not as scary as slow burn out.

So I started writing every day.

While in Florida for my work as a publicist, I met my future husband.  Soon after that, I quit my job, sold my apartment in New York City and gave myself one year to sell my novel and finish another one.

I did sell that book, but I still wasn’t making enough money to live on.  I continued to work freelance for four years, until I published Beautiful Lies, and was then able to write full time.
I would advise writers to devote as much energy and time to writing as they would to any other endeavor.  You have to roll up your sleeves and work.  Writing is a business like any other business.  My story might sound romantic, but my success came after ten years as a publicist in New York, and another four years of freelance work while I tried to get my writing career off the ground!

CommitmentNow.com:  Where can learn more about your writing? 

Lisa:  You can reach me on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/authorLisaUnger or at my website:  www.lisaunger.com. We offer give-aways on both sites.  I love to hear from my fans!

Lisa Unger is an award winning New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author. Her novels have been published in over 26 countries around the world.  She was born in New Haven, Connecticut (1970) but grew up in the Netherlands, England and New Jersey. A graduate of the New School for Social Research, Lisa spent many years living and working in New York City. She then left a career in publicity to pursue her dream of becoming a full-time author. She lives in Florida with her husband and daughter.

To purchase Fragile, click here.